Calling All Startups: Summer Startup Camp Opens at CoolHouse Labs

Startups meet your heavenly summer home. The incubator CoolHouse Labs is like a summer camp for startups, located on the beautiful shores of Lake Michigan in Harbor Springs, MI. They are now open for summer applications.

I had the opportunity to meet Managing Director Jordan Breighner last week in Detroit. Jordan is a talented young man who first left Michigan to work in startups and fortune 500 companies around the country in New York, D.C. and Boston. He jokes that he worked on the “ultimate startup” – the Obama Campaign.

Jordan’s current passion is to help leverage technology to grow entrepreneurship in his hometown of Harbor Springs.

Coolhouse Labs, Michigan

“I was ready to be back in the Midwest and be a part of everything,” said Jordan, who describes his small town as now having access to creative “Silicon Valley” tech and Midwestern ingenuity through Coolhouse Labs.

Jordan returned home to bring his connections and experience back to Harbor Springs where he’s almost building a startup ecosystem from scratch, but not without help from mentors around the country. The incubator graduated five startups last summer, receiving applicants from five continents.

This year the program is accepting ten startups and will launch on June 9th. The program will last twelve weeks and focus on building your company, with a final week focused on funding strategies.

Not only can your startup experience Pure Michigan, it can also receive the technical help it may need. Coolhouse Labs provides technical help, over 60 mentors, room and board, and more. They’re currently looking for applications that have a strong team dynamic to apply.

Jordan knows his community needs more than just a summer influx of entrepreneurs. He’s also recently launched a non-profit arm that will grow the community throughout the year. The Harbor Collective will create entrepreneurs in residence programs, helping promote entrepreneurship in the area.

They non-profit is currently hiring for fellows to work, help with community programming, and focus on growing the Harbor Springs ecosystem.

“We give you housing and a living stipend, and want you to do some programming for the community like an event or class,” said Jordan.